


Not Alone

by UnfoundedIdeas



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bangalore is not good with people, Body Horror, F/F, Gunshot Wounds, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Love Triangles that are actual triangels, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Rescue, Swearing, Wattson isn't either, Wraith needs a hug and therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:07:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25600330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnfoundedIdeas/pseuds/UnfoundedIdeas
Summary: Ever since Anita Willaims joined the Apex Games she'd heard the whisperings and stories of secrets buried below the Arena. She never put any stock in them, tall tales to entertain and impress at the bar, but she knew all too well the IMC had secrets on Solace. Every time she steps foot in that Arena, something in her gut tells her there's more going on there than the Syndicate will admit.
Relationships: Bangalore | Anita Williams & Crypto | Park Tae Joon, Bangalore | Anita Williams/Wattson | Natalie Paquette, Bangalore | Anita Williams/Wraith | Renee Blasey, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Wattson | Natalie Paquette/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39





	1. We are Not Alone Down Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The match is going poorly, options are running thin. Anita takes a gamble on a chance discovery

“Incoming airstrike, find cover!” Anita shouted over the thunder of automatic fire and grenades. 

Her squad was sandwiched between at least two other warring teams in Shattered Forest, their crossfire had shredded her allies. Bloodhound now only existed as a banner card in her pouch and Wattson was hurt bad. Once her pylon went offline, grenades had come down like hail. The young woman clutched her damaged prosthetic and staggered towards Anita. Blood stained her plush jacket and trickled down her face, she may have been battered, but she was far from beaten.

“There! It’s a hatch!” Natalie called out, pointing her limp hand vaguely at a crater. 

All the ordinance had unearthed a small metallic square embedded in concrete. Anita had never found anything like it in the Arena, but it was their only option. The butt of her rifle shattered the lock and the rusting hinges screamed when Anita tore open the hatch. She popped a smoke grenade and ushered Natalie inside, following soon after and shutting the hatch. With some luck, it would be reburied by the fight and they could escape unseen. 

Their feet landed on damp concrete, but in the absolute darkness, they had no other clue as to their surroundings. 

“Allow me.” Natalie’s pylon sparked to life and illuminated the area in an off blue glow. 

Though she could only see a few meters in any direction, Anita recognized IMC architecture when she saw it. The utilitarian sharp angles, exposed pipes and cable on the ceiling, and dozens of caution signs betrayed the facility’s origin. They stood in a few millimeters of water and more dripped from the rusted out pipes. Above they could hear the thunder of battle, but no sound came from inside the bunker other than distant scurrying rats. The inhale after Anita’s sigh of relief was overwhelmed by a musty, dank odor.

Natalie sat down in a nearby folding chair while Anita cracked open a first aid kit on the wall rather than use a vital Medkit. Most of the injuries were just flesh wounds that could be addressed with a syringe, and with her pylon running, her shields would be back up in no time. 

“Papa told me never to return here.” Natalie whispered as Anita healed her. She was unnaturally still, all the warmth and color were gone from her soft face. 

“You know this place?” Anita asked.

All over the Outlands the IMC had left facilities like this. Some were weapons depots, others the site of experimentation, others still were just office buildings full of pencil pushers. When the tides of war shifted, they'd been abandoned. Sensitive information was scrubbed, and what couldn't be was scuttled. She couldn't imagine what Natalie was doing in a place like this. 

“ _Singh_ _Labs_. They did 'orrible things here, experiments on people. When I was a girl, a ghost attacked me in this place. I can still see her dead eyes...” Her voice trembled at the memory. “There is a back entrance that way. We should leave as soon as possible.” Natalie steadied herself, returning to the force of nature Anita knew her to be. At the same time, Anita finished with the syringe. 

With the spinning pylon as their light and Natalie their guide, the pair worked their way through the maze of concrete. This place had been abandoned in a hurry. Doors hung agape and inside Anita could see filing cabinets torn open, computers smashed, and loose papers tiling the floor. Most of the documents were redacted into nothing, others showed signs of attempted burning. And as they trekked deeper, the unspoken history became more disturbing. The walls had craters left by bullet ricochets and the ground was littered with casings, empty magazines, and grenade pins.

Natalie gasped and stumbled back into Anita. She kept her footing and steadied the small woman. Before her, she saw what had frightened her, the mostly skeletal remains of a scientist. Their rotting lab coat still hung on their moss-covered bones. Anita could make out a crack in their skull and shattered ribs. This person's end had been violent.

“What the hell happened here?” Anita wondered aloud. “The fuck was that?!”

Something had shifted in the darkness. It wasn’t a rat or falling debris, it sounded like footsteps. Both women raised their weapons and stood back to back. Their heads snapped towards the sound of another scuff just outside the range of Natalie’s light. Out of the corner of her eye, Anita saw a shower of blue-purple sparks. She tried to convince herself it was the dead power cables. 

“Whoever you are we won’t hurt you, we just want to leave.” Natalie forced confidence into her voice. 

The steps scuffed away, but this time Anita caught a glimpse of _something_. She motioned for Natalie to follow, whoever else was down here had to be dealt with. Splashing and thudding footfalls betrayed their unknown company, and Anita was closing. Both tall and a natural athlete, she'd held the IMC women's 600-meter record at one time, and she still trained like a madwoman. Though Natalie was weighed down by her gear and falling behind, Anita could see the outline of a small person. She tackled the figure into an office, both grunting as they impacted the concrete floor. Water sloshed as the figure struggled, managing to free a hand and drive a blade into Anita's bicep. She screamed in pain and tossed her smaller attacker across the room, they crumpled in the corner just as Natalie and her light came in. 

"Please don't hurt me, I'm sorry. I was scared, please, I don't want any more tests. Let me leave, let me go, please!" A cold and rasping voice pleaded. The pulsing light of the pylon illuminated the face of a pasty woman. The clothes she wore were distressed and dirty, straps hung from her limbs and wires ran up her left arm to a contoured device. On her arms and legs there were protruding nobs that arced energy to each other.

“Ghost...” Natalie gasped and stepped back.

"Who are you?!" Anita demanded, but the woman only continued her sobbing pleas for mercy. 

There were old bloodstains on her clothes and when she moved her hands away from her face, Anita recoiled. Her face was gaunt, almost skeletal. This woman wasn't a threat, she was just terrified. 

"Hey, hey, let's start over, okay? I'm Anita, this is Natalie. We're just passing through here, we're not here to hurt you. Are you alright?" Anita softened her voice. 

The woman sniffled and took a moment to compose herself. When she looked up at Anita, she swore her eyes glowed blue for a moment. However, it was obvious when they started streaming tears. She knew the look in those eyes, she'd seen it in POWs that came home never to be the same again. Something had broken her. 

"Why? Why are you here? I didn't kill them, I-I swear I was just trying to stop them from hurting me..." She sniffled and sat up in the corner, head in her hands.

"Oh no, don't cry!" Natalie stepped in. "What's your name?" Her calm washed over the woman's face. 

"Name...my name..." The woman looked like she'd been asked to recall her own birth. "You..you can call me Wraith." She croaked and managed to suppress her sobs. 

“Well Ms. Wraith, you have very pretty eyes. But, why are you down in this scary place?” 

Natalie’s signature kindness didn’t falter a moment. That was something Anita admired about her, even when talking to this dingy and emaciated woman, she had something nice to say. Anita was more focused on her pale and blotchy skin or greasy hair that fell in dirty clumps. This woman had been down here a while. There'd always been rumors about what the IMC got up to in these places, none of them were very pleasant. 

“Oh. Um, thanks I guess. I live here, I haven’t found a way out.” Wraith murmured. 

“Then you can come with us! We will take you to somewhere that is much more cozy than this.” Natalie extended her good arm and smiled. 

Wraith stared at the gesture, then, as if divinely inspired, she perked up and gently shook her hand. When she offered her hand to Anita, she was taken aback, so much that she almost didn't shake. A glare from Natalie told her to get over the stabbing in a hurry. It didn't even hurt that much anymore. Strangely, the wound didn't seem to bleed either. So handshake it was. 

"Natalie, can we talk for a second? _Alone_." She shot a glance at Wraith. 

Against Natalie's protests, they left the room and shut the door. What Anita was about to say needed to be private. 

"We have to call this in. I'm not-"

"NO! We are not leaving her here! The Syndicate will do 'orrible things to her. She has so much pain already, we can't abandon her!" Natalie's passion was unexpected. She was a naturally compassionate person, but it was like Anita had just told her to leave her best friend. 

Every time Anita tried to argue that helping Wraith would land them in trouble, Natalie had a response. It was clear that what Natalie felt was more than pity, she saw something in this woman that Anita hadn't glimpsed yet. Natalie was always taking in strays, animal or otherwise, though never with this much assertion when Anita refused. That she'd called her 'ghost' bounced in the back of Anita's mind, if this was her childhood specter, what the hell did that mean? And if she was an IMC science project, well that was a scenario made entirely of pain for all of them. Under Natalie's barrage of sympathy, Anita relented. 

"Fine, fine. We'll take her with us." Anita felt like she was talking about another puppy they'd found on the side of the road. 

"If you're really going to get me out of here, can I get my things?" Wraith asked and Anita nodded once back inside. 

Anita picked her rifle back up and took up the rear of their little formation. If Wraith tried anything, she was getting two rounds in the back before she could lay a finger on Natalie. The woman was twitchy and Anita found her presence unsettling. Energy arced around her limbs and occasionally jumped to the walls or floor. It zapped Anita once or twice, however, it was like ice, not a jolt of electricity. Though Natalie appeared unphased, Anita had to fight the urge to demand _"what the fuck are you"_ of the woman. 

Natalie tried her hardest to make conversation but Wraith didn’t have much to say except in her responses to unheard questions. Sometimes, she'd lapse into a conversation with no one, often asserting she knew Anita had a gun and that Natalie was staring at her. Once she'd snapped at no one to shut up. Anita caught a few glances from Natalie and she was just as off-put by her erratic behavior.  Being down here for who knew how long probably just drove her crazy, Anita thought. That shirt of hers did bear a resemblance to a straight jacket after all. And she could now see one of the wires connected to the base of her neck. There were about fifty new questions a minute related to this woman. 

“Do you want a Nessie? I have many and he will bring you good luck!” Natalie held one of her keychains with the green creature out to Wraith. There were always a number of spares in her pockets, and she ensured her squad was equipped with the charms. Wraith let the trinket drop into her palms, examining it like a precious jewel with her finger. 

“Thank you.” Her voice was choked up as she clipped the Nessie to her collar.

Anita kept her head on a swivel, but the facility was more of the same. Some larger conference rooms and labs broke up the monotony, but otherwise, it was just a filthy and destroyed office space. Natalie had managed to get Wraith talking to her about circuits, for the first time, Wraith seemed engaged. Both of the Legends were surprised when she was able to keep up with Natalie's technobabble and ask questions, Wraith even seemed to surprise herself at times. Anita was pretty sure Wraith had laughed at one of Natalie's puns too. But Wraith’s tone changed as they passed one particular two-way mirror. 

“No, no, no, no, no...” she crumpled to the floor, repeating over and over. Her knees crunched to her head and she clutched her skull. 

“Ms. Wraith! Ms. Wraith!” Natalie cried but didn’t touch the shaking woman. 

It was a state both knew well from their own experiences. Anita had consoled Natalie after her father's death and likewise, Natalie had first grown close to her when an errant firework had sent Anita back into the War. 

While Natalie tried to comfort their newfound partner, Anita peered through the cracked glass. Center to the sterile room was a metallic chair, reminiscent of the type a dentist might use. However, this one had steel clamps at the wrist, ankle, thigh, and chest. It was orbited by sinister arms bearing needles and blades. There was an energy in the air, both physical and emotional. Anita felt it in her gut; this was an evil place.

She turned to find Wraith cradled in Natalie’s lap, her body enveloped by Natalie’s arms. Her face was damp with tears and she was still shaking. 

“Hey, hey, you’re alright. I’ve got you.” Anita softened her voice and offered a hand to Wraith. Through bleary eyes, Wraith took it and stood back up. For the first time, Anita felt more than revulsion towards her, now her heart started to have pity.

"The things they did..." She whispered. "The voices don't stop, they're just always in here like nails in my brain." Her fingers dug into her scalp. 

"Hey, with us, nothing is gonna hurt you. Come on, we're going to your room, we're gonna get your stuff, and we're gonna get you out of here." Wraith stiched her nerves back together for now. When they got back to the Legend's facility, she'd get Wraith the help she desperately needed. 

With Natalie's radiant kindness and Anita's stern calm, they'd gotten Wraith moving again. To the surprise of her new companions, she was more talkative now than ever. She'd chatted with Anita about her rifle and even apologized for stabbing her. The more she talked to her, the more Anita started to feel protective of Wraith. Her people had made her into this nervous and terrified wreck, the least she could do was get her out of this hellhole, even if she was still figuring out what they'd do once they reached the surface again. The possibility of simply dying to the ring was high, through the reinforced bunker, they'd lost their maps. Down one hallway she saw a surprising sight, working lights. Wraith informed that this was her room. 

What turned out to be Wraith's room was once a conference room that she’d cleared out. The table and chairs still lay in a heap a few meters from the door. Two makeshift walls of filing cabinets had been erected, dividing what served as a bedroom from a multipurpose living and dining room. The latter had a single table and chair with IMC standard cutlery and dining ware, and, amusing to Anita at least, a mug that read “worlds best boss”. All her meals must have been cooked on a small camp stove, powered by the dozens of extra fuel cells she kept a bit too close for comfort. There was a collection of knives and firearms as well, though the former seemed more for utility. All that the walls bore besides chipping paint was a hand-drawn map of the facility, labeled in elegant flowing script. Not what Anita had expected from a crazy woman.

“I need a minute to get some things. Most of this I don’t want anymore.” Wraith said and paced into her bedroom. 

That area only had a foam pad elevated on an overturned filing cabinet for a bed with sheets made of table cloths. Wraith unzipped a large duffle and started to shove her personal effects inside. There were some clothes, a number of water-damaged books and journals, some of her knives, and some scientific-looking devices Anita couldn’t make heads or tails of. Last was a hard-shelled and foam-lined case with slots cut in it for something, thirty small somethings and one large something. 

“How long did you live here?” Natalie asked, breaking the extended silence they had let fall. 

“I don’t know. I started counting how many times I slept, but that wasn’t helpful. All the clocks stopped working after the power went out, that was after 422 sleeps and a very long time ago.” She stared at the wall where she’d carved the tally. “I was able to restore the emergency generator, but I unplugged everything I didn’t need. Even with that my lights go out a lot.” On cue, the ceiling lights flickered. 

Anita saw a paper on the ground dated nine years ago. If it had been that long, this woman was a hell of a survivor. It occurred to her that a scrub of this place could be invaluable in helping both of them find closure.

"Hey, I gotta take a leak. Is there a bathroom?" Anita feigned discomfort. 

Wraith handed her a flashlight and directed her down the hall, right, then left. There was an open pipe there that still flowed, presumably into the ocean. That was honestly better than what Anita had imagined, which was just a corner somewhere. As she made her way down the hall, however, she diverted to another room that had caught her eye. Natalie's pylon had illuminated the signature blackened glass and ordered cableways of an IMC server room, and central to each was a Master Data Management Authority. A rotation in the _Hestia's_ computer room had taught her how to safely remove the primary hard drive in case of an emergency or a need to destroy it. 

The MDMA (she always assumed the name was a joke based on the party drug) lay in the back right corner of the room, an intimidating three-meter tower of finely routed fiber optic cable and hundreds of cryogenically cooled Terex-class hard drives. There was a five-digit combination lock to access the Backup Drive Module, a ten-kilo monster no larger than a paperback. Just on the _Hestia_ , the default combination had never been changed. The drive appeared mostly intact and Anita sacrificed a shield cell to sneak it into her backpack.

“What’s it like outside?” Wraith looked to Natalie just as Anita came back to the room, acting relieved. 

“It is beautiful out there. Solace is a warm and bright place, you’ll love our apartment. We have a comfy bed, there’s a big TV where we can watch movies, oh, and a real bathroom! You need a shower smelly!” Natalie talked with the excited voice of someone who had just found a long lost sibling. On the other hand, Anita was apprehensive. Wraith was scaring her less, but she was a total unknown. The thought of any harm coming to Natalie put lead in her gut. 

“That all sounds...nice. You’ll let me live with you?” Wraith asked. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still need to get out of here.” Anita interjected. "We should move soon, things will get messy no matter where the match is, but the earlier we call this in, the easier it will be for you."

Natalie concurred and Wraith just went along with it. However, now Wraith was asking what a Match was. Thankfully, Natalie took that question, allowing Anita to figure out how to smuggle the BDM out of the Arena. 

What felt like an hour later they reached Natalie’s secret exit. She was first up the ladder with Wraith in tow. When Anita followed, she found herself climbing out of a hollow tree trunk just outside of Containment. Wraith was shielding her eyes from the new light, but Anita had another worry. Their HUDs had come back online and revealed some bittersweet information; the match was still on, and they were in the final three. Trouble was, Wraith didn’t have a banner card and they couldn’t just call off a match to evac this random woman this late in the game. 

“Sniper get down!” Wraith shouted and tackled Natalie, a bullet whizzed by, so close as to puncture her jacket’s hood. A smoke grenade gave them a moment of cover to scramble into the nearest building. 

“There’s traps in there.” Wraith called out. 

Right again. Anita saw the telltale barrels left by Caustic. A quick shot to the base disabled them and left the man vulnerable to a flank. He and Pathfinder never knew what hit them as they both fell to the floor. Just as Anita was scooping up some more light ammo, the ring started to constrict them further. That final squad would be pushed right on top of them. 

“Give me a weapon, I can help.” Wraith offered. 

Rules be damned, Anita tossed her an R-99 dropped by Pathfinder. She rotated the weapon and brought it to her shoulder with well-drilled form. It reminded Anita of IMC doctrine, but she didn’t dwell on that. 

“Grenade!” Wraith called before the frag even hit the floor. All three women scattered as shrapnel shredded the small space. Anita and Wraith laid down covering fire for Natalie to throw some hasty fences at the doors. Just in time too. 

Octane, Gibraltar, and Mirage rushed in as a single unit. The fences caught Octane long enough for Anita to dispatch him with her rifle, but Gibraltar and his EVA were right behind. A load of buckshot broke her shield and a second dropped her to the floor in pain. Her pistol clattered across the steel floor, just out of reach. As she writhed on the ground she saw Natalie’s Prowler inflict serious damage on Gibraltar, but not nearly enough. She too hit the ground with a thud. 

The enemy squad turned their attention to Wraith. Anita wondered what they could have done better, all that just for her to die here. Mirage raised his Flatline and opened fire on his last target. But in a flurry of sparks, he hit nothing but air. A pulsing and hissing spiral of... _something_ materialized in front of Anita. She could feel it sucking the warmth from her face, but there was a pull to go through it from deep inside her. With all her strength, she managed to crawl through. There was a moment of hellish cold where the whole world zipped by in a haze of smeared blue and black. She thought she’d died and this was her descent into damnation. 

Her first view was Natalie propped against a pillar under one of the elevated buildings, popping the medkit. 

“Hang on, this won’t hurt.” Wraith put her hands on Anita’s chest and gave her a shove. Energy pulsed through her, and though cold and uncomfortable, it didn’t hurt. Natalie dropped a medkit and redeployed her pylon. Before Anita could begin to thank Wraith or question what the hell just happened, Gibraltar and Mirage began their new attack. 

Wraith leaped from cover and vanished with a burst of energy. A pale blue trail zigzagged towards the attackers and exploded in another burst of sparks. From behind the unsuspecting Mirage, she emptied her magazine into his back. Anita and Natalie pressed the ambush and opened fire on both men. Mirage crumpled down, defeated. A few moments after him, Gibraltar slumped against a crate and ceased moving. 

“Frag going out!” Anita called and pitched a grenade into the building they’d been in. 

The explosion sent Octane’s body ragdolling through the window and onto the ground with his squadmates. He still tried to use his self revive. Anita paced over, readied her launcher, and dispatched him with a smoke grenade to the forehead. The grenade ricocheted back into her hand. 

The announcer called out their win and the recovery ship jumped in, but Anita wasn’t thinking about the prize money or after-party. Hell, she’d forgotten Bloodhound was still in her pocket. What she was thinking about was how she was going to explain this. They’d landed themselves in a proper mess with their mystery companion and what likely constituted an invalid win. This would be a Jacob meeting for sure. She only hoped Natalie could save her ass again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated


	2. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wraith may be out of the Arena, but she's nowhere near out of the woods. Anita's plans disintegrate quickly and she's forced to do what she does best: adapt and survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update after four months...
> 
> I work still so unfortunately, free time is short. Regardless, I at least know how I want this to end, I just have to get there. Probably six chapters

If she had the space and the right wind up, Anita could put over 2100 pounds of force on someone’s face. 775 psi was not to be taken lightly and right now, she was wrapping her knuckles for just that. Her usual post-match debrief with Natalie over the recovery ship’s droning engines was postponed while she made ready for whatever was going to happen when they landed. All three knew in their own way what likely awaited them, though Natalie tried to keep the mood up. 

While Anita made ready for hand-to-hand combat, Natalie was extolling the virtues of cupcakes and working to describe her favorite movies to Wraith, trying to keep her mind full of pleasant thoughts. But for her efforts, all she got was a modest reduction in Wraith’s fidgeting. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” Wraith interrupted her energetic musings. 

Nobody wanted to say the truth, but Natalie couldn’t lie to save her life. 

“I don’t know Ms. Wraith, but I promise, we’ll do everything we can to protect you.” Natalie grasped her hands. 

“One way or another, we’re keeping you safe. I can’t promise it will be easy or fast, but we’ll do it.” Anita tempered her expectations. 

She was willing to throw punches if it came to that, but even as a soldier, she knew there were more ways to win than violence. Jacob Young would be her unwitting pawn if she could help it. 

The pilot announced their landing was approaching, and the recovery ship swung around to the landing pad. As it began to descend, Anita took her place in front of the loading ramp. At six feet and one-eighty without combat gear, she was intimidating, maybe enough to let Wraith pass by unmolested. 

“Door coming down.” The pilot said, and as daylight broke through the cracks, Anita realized even her physical prowess was worthless. 

Dr. Bateman and her security team were waiting on the landing pad in their pristine uniforms, a solid wall of blinding white. For the medical lead of the Games, Anita found Bateman had far more in common with IMC officers than medics like Ajay. She was clever, cold, and ruthless. That was notwithstanding the four guards armed with sub-guns and her medical staff with straight jacket waiting. 

“Good afternoon Miss Williams, we’ll be happy to treat any injuries you have once we’ve contained our new friend.” Her voice was so sweet it made Anita’s fists clench in distaste. “Well hello there, you must be Wr-”

“NO!” Wraith roared and tore herself from Natalie’s loose grasp.

Rather than run, she lunged for the doctor. For an instant, she vanished into energy, violently bursting out now with a knife in hand. Anita’s hand passed clean through her trail in a failed attempt to restrain her. 

Natalie screamed for her to stop, but her cry snapped into an inhuman, piercing screech. A shot rang out and Wraith fell against the concrete, deep crimson blood staining her abdomen. One of the medical techs jabbed a syringe into the still struggling and thrashing woman, getting slashed across the arm. Anita made a grab at Natalie as she sprinted out of the recovery ship, but was too transfixed to catch her in time. Natalie shoved a tech off of Wraith, standing over her with raised fists. 

“Leave her alone!” She shouted as her punches fell impotent on the armored vest of the guard.

Anita started to step forward but was beaten to Natalie by another tech. A quick injection and Natalie fell limp into his grasp. Anita ripped her friend from his hands and lifted her against herself. With the other two women momentarily distracted, Bateman’s staff had secured and stabilized Wraith. Anita knew she could do nothing as the now unconscious woman was loaded onto a stretcher and carted off. Her hands shook and her muscles still lay tense. Once again, she’d been powerless to help someone. 

“Well, that was dramatic. I’m glad everyone is okay. Oh, and Miss Willaims, Jacob wants to see you, he was upset when he called me, so play nice with him.” The doctor said in a faux-concerned tone before turning to escort her new ‘specimen’ down to her clinic. 

* * *

"What in the living fuck were you thinking Bang! This is a nightmare. You're usually way smarter than this, remember the incident with the leviathan..." Anita resisted the urge to roll her eyes or interject into Jacob Young's prolonged chewing out. His words may well have been meaningless and most of them effectively were. He was chosen as head of public relations for his traditional good looks and unoffensive voice, not his actual crisis management skills. Anita suspected Blisk had an army of lawyers and spin doctors who really ran that show. To deal with Jacob, all she had to do was wait out his ramblings and then interject her solution. However, she was still working on the final stage of that plan. At least he was long-winded. 

What was occupying her mind first and foremost were Natalie's sniffles. She was slumped in a seat behind Anita, her knuckles white from gripping the chair's edge. The sedative had worn off, but she was still practically catatonic. Any other time and Anita would have been holding her. Now, however, she was forced to let her sit there alone. Anita had carried Natalie against her chest to Jacob's ornate office, sure that she would be helpful in some way or another, and more importantly, she had to keep an eye on her, especially with Bateman stalking around. 

"Any response Bang? Because I'm five seconds from sending the email to ship _it_ off to the closest looney bin." Jacob snapped at her. She didn't particularly like him, hell, she didn't like Wraith that much either, but she was still a person who deserved at least the most basic respect, and he called the shots around here. 

"Wraith might be what you're looking for. The name of this game is adaptation; mixing the meta up, introducing disruptive ideas. I'd say Wraith was pretty damn disruptive. She dropped some of your favorites like FNGs, maybe she'll catch on with fans. But we need _her_ healthy and alive." Anita was already formulating a way to smuggle Wraith off of Solace and to an old friend who could take care of her. She had no intention of giving Jacob another life to tie up in strings. "And that lab might make the map just that much more interesting. I'm sure Natalie can find a way to get the ring down there." 

The sniffles stopped and Natalie took her cue. 

"Oui, ground penetration is more than possible. I simply never designed for it since it was unnecessary at the time, it's really the same technology to get it inside buildings." Her voice was still wavering, but she'd stepped up. 

A subtle smile crossed Anita's face. This young woman always pulled through for her, and despite what many thought of her, Natalie's intellectual brilliance was only matched by her tactical prowess. 

Jacob stroked his chin and stabbed his press release with his pen. The smug, shit-eating grin crossing his face made Anita want to wring his neck, but it meant she’d won. At least for now

“Hey hey hallelujah Bang! That’s what I like to hear. I’m sure the good doctor can-”

“No. Bateman has no part in this.” Anita cut him off. “If you want Wraith to be a real competitor and not an empty shell that gets gunned down minute one, _I_ take care of her. Bateman knows how to make a deadman walk, but she doesn’t know jackshit about people. Jacob, I need you to think about this for a moment. She’s been down there at least as long as the Arena’s been on top of it, alone and surviving on rats. There ain’t a chance in hell she’s fit to fight. This will take time, but I know you, you can keep the hype moving. Drum up some mystery about her, huh?”

Jacob raised his finger to make a point but retracted. Leaning into his business school training, he paced from around his desk and tried to invade Anita’s personal space, make her crack or back down. But she had four inches of height on him and could fold him like origami given the chance, physical intimidation plain didn’t work on her. 

“I’ll run this by the commish. I’ll call you when I know.” His voice was resigned. It was another small victory to make him talk to Kuben, and Anita always felt the commissioner had a soft spot for her, but knew for a fact he had no patience for Jacob. Things might actually work out.

  
  
  


The air in the apartment felt stale. Usually, it was full of the life Natalie’s presence breathed into the small space or the complex aromas of Anita’s cooking. But now it felt frigid and stiff. Natalie had idly scrolled through her favorite shows for close to an hour without starting anything and the entire time, she hadn’t said a word. Anita didn’t prod the tension either. She let it sit there while she organized her own thoughts. That had consisted of typing out an email to Dr. Bateman, pleading for Wraith to be treated well and then deleting it a dozen times. She failed to scrounge up anything that had a chance to convince that woman.

“Do you think-” Natalie’s whisper was cut off. 

“Nat, please. I promise you, we’re going to work this out. I just need you to hang tight right now. Stick with me, Nat.” 

Anita sighed and pretended the past few hours hadn’t bothered her too. It shouldn't have taken this long to get a simple yes or no from the commissioner. She’d met the man on more than one occasion. Kuben Blisk was a straight forward type, not unlike Anita herself. Things were or they weren’t, there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room left in the world and both understood the value of a decisive decision. If he was taking his time on this, there was an angle she hadn’t considered. Anita shook her head. 

“Hey Nat, how about a board game? I think we could both use a distraction.” Anita started to shuffle towards the closet with all the games they’d accumulated. For both their sakes, Wraith needed to be forgotten again if just for now.

“Can you call Ajay?” Natalie began to whimper. “She might at least be able to tell us Wraith is alright. Maybe she can arrange-” 

“Nat! I said let’s drop this for now.” Anita snapped back with more intensity than she had meant, but her body was already in combat mode. 

“Don’t you care? Wraith was shot and we’re just sitting here! Anita we ‘ave to do something, but if you won’t help me, then I will go down myself.” She huffed and thrust herself off the couch. “I will not be helpless.” Her voice was so small that Anita barely picked up on it. 

Anita gripped the closet’s doorknob and closed her eyes tight, trying to let the volatility in her fade. She wanted to bark an order at Natalie, treat her like another soldier who needed to focus on the mission, not the moment. But no matter how good a fighter and how good a friend she was, Natalie wasn’t like Anita, she knew that. And as much as she knew that, part of her didn’t quite believe it. The IMC still enlisted a piece of Anita’s soul. 

“Nat, we aren’t helpless, but right now, we don’t have a lot to work with. If we don’t hear anything by 1900, I’ll call Jacob and then I’ll call Ajay. Does that sound good?” Anita’s mouth twitched in an almost imperceptible wince. That was another error she often made with Natalie, treating her like a child outside the Arena. 

“Fine. I’d rather not play a game right now, I’m not in the mood.” She shuffled back to the couch and slumped down. Anita had been afraid she’d say that. 

Later, Anita grabbed her jacket and backpack from the rack near the door. In the chaos after the match, no one had bothered to check her for contraband. Rather than smuggle out a guicci pistol or some ammo, however, Anita had only taken the BDM with her. After making sure Natalie was distracted, she passed the heavy device from the backpack to the inside of her coat, but the shuffling grabbed Natalie’s attention.

“Where are you going?” Her voice was as weak as the day they’d met under Natalie’s kitchen table, her father’s funeral only hours before that. Just as then, she desperately didn’t want to be alone. But Anita had to leave here if she wanted to get answers, and Natalie had to be kept in the dark for her own sake. 

“I’m getting some fresh air.” That was Anita’s usual code for _I need a smoke_. She’d picked up the habit in the military and still leaned on it in times of stress. The smell was too much for Natalie, which made it a good excuse to find some time alone. 

“I see. Text me when you’re coming back please.” Natalie mumbled and went back to idly browsing her phone. 

It truly hurt Anita to leave her in a state like this, but she couldn’t show that. Hell, she couldn’t show Natalie how much she cared about her anyway. There’d been enough loss and enough remorse in her life already. She wouldn’t risk losing her closest friend over her own mixed-up feelings or worse, set herself up for more anguish when Natalie faded from her life. Her cautious orbit was best for both of them. Others would be better for her now. Anita sent a quick text to Ajay and Makoa as she left. If anyone could lift her spirits, it was them. 

She made the walk to her destination in silence, only giving familiar faces token acknowledgment. Her stride was brisk, the sooner she could reoccupy her mind, the better. For now, Anita tried to think of anything _but_ what Bateman was doing to Wraith.

The woman was truly brilliant but embodied the implications of the term “sawbones”. To her, patients were indistinguishable from guinea pigs. Anyone coming into her clinic was liable to get some form of experimental procedure performed on them with their consent only a minor roadblock to her curiosities. This had resulted in her development of the proprietary respawn system currently used by the games, but one breakthrough didn’t justify the means in Anita’s eyes. Just the thought of that lab right now made her break stride.

With a subject as unique as Wraith, Bateman would be having a field day. A horrible thought floated through Anita’s mind. Maybe it would have been better to let her die in the Arena. Wraith would have been spared whatever it was Bateman was doing to her, and then the next months of hell as she tried to acclimate to “normal” life. And Anita also thought of herself. Wraith would be a burden to take care of, almost like a pet. Her friendship with Natalie had recently cleared some rocks, but Wraith’s insertion threatened the balance of their personalities. 

Anita kicked herself for even entertaining the thought for more than a moment. There was some version of this where everything worked; Wraith got better, she and Natalie stayed close, and no one got hurt. That was the dream at least. She swore to herself that she’d help Wraith as best she could, it felt like her duty after what the IMC had made of her. But to do that, she needed intel. And that was the purpose of her walk to the plain apartment door in front of her. A couple knocks and the door swung open. 

  
  


Of all people, Crypto was far from the company she expected to keep. He lived in the world of self-writing algorithms, machine learning, and synthetic neural networks, far from Anita’s familiar territory of rifles and grenades. The man was straight-up weird and reclusive, but almost too smart for his own good. Behind Natalie, he was the smartest person she’d ever met, and that was counting her time guarding an ARES facility. Their acquaintance had been made out of necessity. 

He’d cornered her after a match, mumbling about his pistol. In exchange for a bit of extra encryption on her computer, she’d taken the P2016 apart and diagnosed his problem, simply a loose screw in the trigger pack. She suspected he’d encountered no more difficulty with her software upgrade. He quickly became her man for anything computer-related and he would turn to her for weapon work. Small talk guided them to friendship.

“Sup T, I’ve got a present for you.” She said as he opened his apartment door. T was the closest she had to his real name, but it was a hell of a lot more than anyone else knew. 

“Figured you’d still be apologizing after that stunt. But why do I let you surprise me anymore?”

“You know me, I just bat my eyelashes and make doe eyes.” She joked. He huffed and allowed her into his dimly lit room. 

She only ever saw the entrance, a blackout curtain hid the rest of his living space from view. What she could see, however, was stacked with computer equipment and monitors running processes she didn’t pretend to understand. Hack was seated in his charging station, next to some of the scant few decorations he put up. A few small posters of bands he liked and a handful of brightly colored paper ornaments hung from the walls. There was also what she understood to be a small shrine with candles and a folded note, the contents written in Korean. 

“What do you have for me today Anita? If it's your phone again, I’m taking you at gunpoint to buy a new one.” 

She pulled the BDM from her jacket and thunked it on his desk. The ten-kilo drive shook the empty food cartons and drink glasses strewn over it. He leaned in to assess what she’d just given him.

“Know what this is?” She knew it was a pointless question, but giving him a chance to brag never hurt. 

“Of course I know what this is. It’s a Backup Drive Module, looks like a Kinzek 9.5 series, IMC era. Not exactly uncommon. I have a feeling I know where this one came from, sergeant.” He reclined in his chair, smug with another source of blackmail if the time ever came for it.

“I won’t confirm or deny anything.” 

“So what’s on it?” He started rifling through his drawers, pulling out smaller drives, screwdrivers, and extra cables. 

“That’s the question now isn’t it T. Crack it for me, will ya? You can add it to my tab.” 

He chuckled. Right now, she was six favors in the hole thanks to an ancient phone and Natalie accidentally frying her laptop in a Pylon test gone wrong. But he just shook his head. Of course he’d crack it, even something as simple as this was worth it for the fun of the work. And he never minded her company. 

“I’ll let you know when I can get to it. We’ll have a beer while it pops open for us.” He offered.

“Hell ya T. You’re the best. I’ve got to get back to Nat before she starts to worry too much.” She said and walked off after giving him a fist bump. 

Partway back to the apartment, Anita’s phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but something told her to answer. 

“Hello, Sergeant. This is Blisk.” The name stopped in her tracks. He never reached out through the phone, it was always in person with him. “Meet me in my office tomorrow at 0700. We need to discuss your situation.” His voice was laced with his usual cockiness, unreadable as anything either malicious or benevolent.

“Yes sir.” Was all she could muster before he hung up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback is appreciated. Anything for quick comments to in-depth critique is honestly really helpful for me


	3. This is Your New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a sliver of a chance that Anita can save Wraith a second time, and for Natalie, she'll take it. What she fears, however, is that soon she may be the one in danger
> 
> Content warning for descriptions of body horror and non-consensual body modification

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to aim for a minimum once a month update schedule for this fic. Not the fastest, I know, but its what I can reasonably hold myself to. 
> 
> I think this will end up being 9 or so chapters, not 100% on the breakdown. And I'm diverging more from canon as this goes on.

In a world where Anita held the title of Apex Game’s Commissioner, one of the few recognizable elements would have been the Commissioner's office. Blisk himself may have only been a merc, but he and Anita shared an appreciation for the history of conflict. As she waited patiently in the ornate yet spartan space, she fought a pang of jealousy over his collection of antique weapons and armor. The artifacts spanned centuries, from simple woven hides to modern composite shield systems and weapons dating back to the days of wheel locks, all the way up to a preproduction R-401 prototype. If nothing else, the man had taste and the means to indulge it. 

Though there was an exceptionally comfortable looking chair in front of his solid wooden desk, Anita stood at rigid attention, facing the wall opposite of her. That was one of many things drilled into her by the IMC. It was a sign of respect to those who could command her life. Another tick was the stone-cold, unflinching expression she wore. Intuitively, Blisk would know she was at the very least conflicted, and at worst in panic, but she wasn’t about to allow him to accuse her of that on any real evidence. 

0700 had come and gone minutes ago, and she had been earlier still. A guard had waved her inside and she found it unfitting to leave. That had given her unfortunate time to reflect on the radio silence on Wraith. Ajay was still poking around in the medbay, but continued to find nothing but brick walls and nonanswers, and Bateman was not at all an open line of communication. There’d been nothing from Crypto either, though she suspected that was due to his lack of priority, not that she could blame him. When this meeting was over, she’d impress upon him the importance of this matter. 

Behind her, the large doors thundered open and Kuben Blisk’s broad form darkened the doorway. Even at his age, he was incredibly fit, a man built of solid muscle and sheer determination not to grow soft. It was the way Anita aimed to be if she got the chance to grow old. 

“Sorry about that Bangalore, Mr. Young believes his time is more valuable than mine sometimes.” It was a quirk of Blisk to refer to everyone by the name they used in the Arena. Anita didn’t necessarily mind, she just noted it and made sure to emulate around him. “Take a seat, this isn’t the IMC anymore. I get the feeling you’re not interested in my hospitality and want to talk about our new friend.”

“You’d be correct, sir.” She found the chair rather comfortable but did notice it set her markedly lower than him. It was a familiar tactic, though in the IMC it generally included a chair effectively made of sheet metal. 

“Eehh, no  _ sirs _ here Bangalore; we’re both just old soldiers now.” He smirked, well aware that she didn’t see him as such, but carried on with the same cocky friendliness. “You made a hell of a mess with that rescue, and there are a lot of questions. People are questioning me, they’re questioning my Games, Bangalore. I don’t like that. But I only have one question for you, the only question that matters today:  _ why _ ?”

There was no point in playing coy, she knew which ‘why’ he wanted. The problem was, she didn’t have the right answer. It had been a compulsion, a sensation grabbing hold of her like the tide that led to the events of the previous day. But for Blisk, that was not an adequate answer. Neither was “Natalie told me to”. With a sigh, she resigned to the only other option she could consider the truth. 

“I was doing what I always do, fighting for what I believe is right. It’s the reason I joined up with the IMC. When we found her down there, I couldn’t have it on my conscience to just leave her to rot in that place. Maybe I should’ve called it in and not taken it all this far.” Anita shrugged. “I really don’t know. Jackie was always good with this sort of thing. He’s the thinker, I’m the doer. The world worked best when we were yin-yanging it.” What possessed her to share even the smallest sliver of her personal life with Blisk was beyond her, but his expression shifted from stern to something more subdued, almost an approving nod. 

Blisk picked an ornate pen from a holder on his desk. The clearly weighty object was easily identifiable to Anita; a commemoration to all the survivors of the Battle of Typhon. To her, it carried more weight than a planet, but he fidgeted with it like any other luxury pen before stabbing it against a notepad and rapidly scratching something out. She understood the performance and kept her mouth shut and face neutral.

“Give this note to the good doctor Bateman for me.” He handed her the once folded scrap of paper. “Heh,  _ Wraith _ . That has something of a ring to it.” He added with a knowing grin. 

Anita thanked him and dismissed herself. The instant she was out of sight of his office, she unfolded the paper. Had he wanted its contents to remain secret, he either would have told her such or sealed it, she convinced herself.

_ Dr. Bateman, _

_ Effective immediately, transfer the woman known as “Wraith'' into the capable hands of Fmr Sgt 1st class Anita Williams. All of Wraith’s care and upkeep is now her responsibility until you hear otherwise from myself.  _

_ If this is a problem, my door is open. _

_ -KB _

A wave of relief crashed over Anita. The funny thing about waves was, however, that they had a way of knocking you down. As soon as the high of her victory subsided, a new, far greater weight fell on her. She and Natalie were in no way qualified to handle Wraith, let alone deal with the probable dozen item long list of mental problems she had. And between Natalie’s research budget and Anita’s “go the hell home” fund, they didn’t have a ton of cash just lying around.

“Christ Jackie, the hell did I do to myself now? I need a hand down here, throw me something man, please.” She whispered to herself as she pocketed the note. 

The unilateral decision to momentarily continue Natalie’s exclusion from this operation came with the justification that her heightened emotional energy would further upset Bateman. What was needed was for Anita to just hand her the note, grab Wraith, and go. Besides, Natalie loved surprises. Rescuing Wraith (a second time) would score her some major points after their headbutting the previous night. 

“Well, that’s not a signature I can argue with. Very well.” Was all Bateman had to say. Predictably, she was frustrated, if anything that made the deal sweeter. The moment didn’t last long.

Two large, lab coat clad men occupied the medbay exit behind her. With a wave of her hand, they parted, revealing Wraith looking somehow worse than the dingy, waterlogged woman she’d found in that bunker. 

“The fuck did you do?” Anita snapped.

The tiny spark of life in her eyes had all but flickered out, leaving her stare vacant and unfocused through the scraggly hair that now fell loosely all over her head. They’d left her in the straight jacket and cuffed her ankles. As if they thought she could get that far, they’d put a tracker collar around her sinewy. 

“Wraith, it’s me, Anita. You’re out of here, let’s go.” Anita forced her voice to soften and she beckoned Wraith towards her. 

Her head tilted up, her eyes shimmering with tears she was clearly fighting. Nothing came from her chapped lips when she opened her mouth but a labored rasp.  _ Please don’t tell me they killed her. _ She pleaded with whoever could hear her thoughts. 

“Get her out of that stuff, now.” Anita barked at Bateman. The woman’s sickening grin made Anita want to relieve her of all her teeth.

“The commissioner simply said that you would take over her care, she is no longer my patient.” She chirped. 

Anita scowled, her hand instinctively twitching near her waist for a pistol she didn’t carry. 

“Well then, as her caregiver, I’m asking you  _ doctor _ ; uncuff her. Now.” Anita’s hand tightened into a fist. 

Posturing like this was beneath her, to threaten and intimidate was unbecoming of an IMC NCO, her former status irrelevant. And what Bateman read of it remained beyond her, be that as genuine intimidation or simple amusement. All she was returned was the strange woman now under her care and a duffle bag of her possessions. 

Wraith’s cuffs clanged on the floor and for a moment, she tensed to fight again. A stern glare from Anita smothered that flare of rage and revenge. All the tension in her dropped away and her arms hung limp like she was some poorly supported puppet. Her few steps towards Anita were staggering and hurried. Wraith grabbed onto her like she was a raft in a storm, burying her face against Anita’s shirt. A guard roughly tossed Wraith’s duffle into Anita’s arms, intent on knocking her back, but she was a sturdy woman, immovable when she chose to be. With a smug wave of her hand, Bateman left the doorway and forcibly crashed the door closed, the sound enough to make Wraith jolt. 

“Thank you for coming back.” Wraith’s voice was a mere whisper, but her desperate sincerity was deafening. 

“I keep my promises. Now, let’s get you to somewhere you’ll  _ actually _ be taken care of.” She sneered at the door. 

Wraith pulled herself into Anita’s shirt, for the first time choosing contact with her. Her state was trance-like, her eyes flittering from one thing to the next but focused on something a thousand miles away. Every time they came to stairs or a turn, Anita had to guide Wraith along, the other woman seeming intent on walking in a trudging straight line forever. Anita prayed that this wasn’t something Bateman had inflicted upon her. 

“Where’s Natalie?” Wraith finally spoke after several awkward minutes of contemplative silence. 

“She’s in the apartment, your new home. I had to do things a bit behind her back, so she doesn’t know I’ve got you yet. Nat can get...overwhelmed by emotion. It’s not her fault, but it’s gotten her stuck before.” Anita put it as gently as she could. Always a soldier, Anita could put her emotions down and barrel through the crisis at hand when the need arose. It was a blessing and a curse to be able to, at least for the moment, forget to feel. 

Wraith made a small sound like she wasn’t entirely convinced by that explanation, but she kept on walking. She was becoming more lucid, but her eyes almost appeared to alternate between two colors and still darted around to random points in space. Again the thought that she was simply crazy floated through Anita’s mind. But as they came to their destination, she hoped for once that she was way off target. Anita knocked three times in a subtle pattern to let Natalie know it was her. After a prolonged wait, the door opened.

“Wraith!” Natalie’s eyes shot wide and her mouth opened in a gasping smile. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around the other woman and lifted her a foot into the air, laughing and crying the whole time. 

The horrified look on Wraith’s face remained just a look. She didn’t lash out or even speak, though she did squirm in Natalie’s surprisingly strong grip. 

“Oh no, I’m sorry Wraith. I lost myself there.” Natalie said, still buzzing with excitement. “Anita, how? When? I thought that we weren’t doing anything?”

As Wraith straightened her straight jacket-evidently only out of habit-Anita formulated her answer for maximum goodwill with Natalie. 

“I had to call in some favors. Didn’t want to get your hopes up if this didn’t work out, so I kept you in the dark. I’m sorry.” Anita again justified lying to Natalie, this time to her own ends, as necessary. A sideways glance from Wraith felt uncomfortably knowing. 

However, Natalie was too giddy to have Wraith back that she barely even acknowledged that Anita had spoken. She motioned Wraith inside, the woman meekly following her into their warmly lit home, Anita not far behind with her stuff. 

“It’s lovely. Your home is amazing, I-I don’t know what to say…” Wraith spun around, her eyes wide and taking in every detail. 

Most of the interior decorating had been Natalie’s doing, a perfect reflection of her personality, inviting and soft. The lights kept the place in a neutral yellow glow, close to natural light to help both women sleep. The walls also bore paintings that she liked, ranging from abstract swaths of color and shape to precise replications of sweeping landscapes that she longed to visit. It was actually Anita who had taken charge of the furniture, picking up the sturdy hand-carved chairs, table, and bed frame from Bloth. The polished wood was accompanied by pillows and blankets that Natalie had collected over the years. 

“You’re really going to let me live here?” Wraith was standing in the middle of the living room trying to absorb her surroundings like the heat of a fire. 

“That we are _mon ami_ e. But, after you are cleaned up. No offense, but you smell like a wet basement.” Natalie teased her then looked at Anita. “Can you help her shower? I’ll take care of her things and getting her some clothes.” There was a subtle look in her eyes that demanded a private conversation. 

Anita quickly agreed and showed Wraith to the bathroom, instructing her to wait just a moment. In turn, Wraith requested the large hard-shelled case she’d brought from the facility. Under the guise of retrieving it, Anita slipped out of the bathroom.

“Anita, did we do the right thing? Are we in danger now?” Natalie gulped. 

The words were like a punch to the chest. Anita had been operating on the assumption Natalie was one hundred percent on board. If there were suddenly doubts, then things were about to become far more complicated. And what did she mean by danger? Wraith, or some other force?

“Yeah, we did something good. Whatever comes at us, we can handle. If you’re worried about Wraith, if she gets squirrely, well, she’s like 85 pounds. Just get her some clean clothes and figure out what this...stuff she has is. Why the second thoughts?” Anita positioned herself near Natalie, giving her the space she needed, but still, just an arms reach away. 

Natalie rubbed her elbow and didn’t look at Anita’s face. It was one of her little nonverbal cues, she wasn't sure of why, but she was feeling bad for even questioning it. 

“I guess I slept on it. I was so caught up in saving someone, actually helping people for a change, that I didn’t think it through. There are so many things we don’t know about her, about helping her, about anything. Anita, can we do this?” Natalie looked on the verge of tears. 

After a deep breath that acted as a silent prayer, Anita did what Jackie would do when she was lost and grasping for any firm ground. She pulled Natalie tight against herself, her hand gentle on the back of her head, stroking down her silken blonde hair. 

“Not alone we can’t. But we’ve got friends. Crypto, Ajay, hell, even Witt. They’ll help us, Nat. And Wraith  _ will _ get better.” Anita said like she’d seen the future and knew this was the fact of how it would all unfold. “Now, let’s start at step one, yeah?” 

Back in the bathroom, Anita found Wraith sitting on the closed toilet with her knees in her chest and still fully dressed. Her eyes flicked up through her matted hair and shimmered with an unnatural blue glow. As they faded back to grey, they were unfocused and vacant as when Anita had first found her. 

“What’s up?” Anita played casual, but the drop in Wraith’s shoulders told her all she needed to know. 

“My eyes do that when I hear the Voices. I’d rather not talk about that right now.” She murmured and toyed with her fingers. Voices and apparent mind-reading notwithstanding, Wraith still gave Anita a fight or flight tingle at the back of her neck. “I’m gonna need your help with the...I’m not sure what they’re called.” She tapped at the knobs affixed to her limbs. “There’s a tool we’ll need in the case.” 

Anita nodded and cracked open the case. There were rough ‘T’ shaped cutouts in the foam for over two dozens of the nobs, and, in one corner there was a small wrench. Her initial assumption had been the knobs were simply part of her straight jacket, but now she was far less clear. 

“How long will this take?” Wraith asked and let her feet to the floor. 

“Depends. You’re pretty grimy, could be forty-five to an hour.” 

The chance to examine the knobs up close provided even less clarity. They were reminiscent of the high voltage leads Anita often changed out in the _Hestia's_ reactor compartment, but less than a quarter the size. A small dot of blue crowned the metal, swirling and shifting like solidified smoke. Her finger grazed one and it was like ice.

“I can’t go without them that long. After a few minutes, I start to lose my grip here and I slip into other realities. After we clean the contacts, I’ll need you to put them back on. If I do go away, don’t worry. I can come back, it just takes time.” Wraith explained like it actually explained anything. She grabbed one and nodded to Anita who fit her wrench around another. “Please, be gentle. The doctors here weren’t.” She grimaced at the memory. 

“So...what are these?” Anita decided to keep up the conversation while they worked. She applied more torque ever so slowly to the knob until it jerked free and began to come loose. Wraith still winced and whimpered, but didn’t fight against it. 

“I’m not sure. I don’t really know what happened to me. My theory is they’re some kind of Faraday cage that keeps the Void from killing me or at least keeps it to a level I can control.” The first knob came free and the weight was so surprising Anita almost dropped it. The small thing must have weighed half a kilo.

“Hmm. I saw sparks on them in that bunker, maybe they’re like a lightning rod for the Void. Eh, you might have more luck with Nat, she’s the brains, I’m the door kicker.” Anita shrugged. 

Wraith silently nodded and finished off the knobs on her thigh. Before long, they’d undone all of them. 

“C-can you disconnect my bracer? There’s a port back here.” Wraith’s fingers traced under the hair at the back of her neck and lifted it up. An intertwined wire stemmed from a polymer connector and ran all the way down her arm to the bracer. “I need you to be gentle with this one. Squeeze the clip all the way down.”

Anita slowed her unsteady breath, ignoring the horror of what she was seeing and focusing on the motions. Hours on the range had given her rock-steady hands, surgeons hands Ajay had once said. The connector snagged and Wraith yelped and dug her fingers into her palms. 

“It’s okay, you didn’t mean it.” Wraith grit her teeth and Anita gave another slow pull, this time freeing the wire without pain.  She slipped off the gauntlet and placed that too in the case. Wraith held her arm awkwardly and massaged the area under it with her free hand. There was discoloration there, something Ajay would undoubtedly need to look at.  But now, Wraith was deadly still, her face unsure. 

“You’re worried about being naked around me, aren’t you?” Anita softly asked. 

“I’ve never been that vulnerable.” 

Anita stood up and tapped Wraith’s shoulder.

“I’ll go first, that way you’ll be comfortable.” She began to take off her shirt. “And Nat’s gonna get you something more comfortable to wear.” 

Wraith watched her the whole time, not leeringly or revolted, more curious. Nudity had never been a hand up of Anita’s, the IMC communal showers dispelled any modesty or puritanical ideas she had about the human body. She wore her skin with confidence, proud of every scar and mark. The War had taken its toll on her.

“Please don’t scream.” Wraith said before she let Anita help her from her clothes. 

“I’ve seen a lot of naked woman Wraith, I can handle you.” She tried to joke, but Wraith glare at her with serious intent. 

The moment her straight jacked came off, Anita knew why.  Anita had been ready for her emaciated frame, the wiry limbs and protruding ribs. She’s seen that and the same skeletal body on POWs during the War. Even her innumerable scars didn’t justify a response. What struck her was the unnatural things the IMC had done to her.  Where the nobs had screwed in was not a component of her top, it was metal disks embedded in her translucent skin. They were elevated and held up by some rigid mass that looked to go down to bone, propping up her skin like a sickening festival tent. The skin around the disks was scarred and the veins were blackened to a sickening color , a clearish-orange liquid oozed from a few.  Under the gauntlet, her forearm bore a scar almost like Natalie’s, but in that same necrotic color. She had dozens of scars, some from battle, but most clean surgical lines all over her limbs. Anita could count her ribs with ease and see where they’d healed badly from breaks. The ridges of her spine stood as a prominent procession all the way down her scarred back. 

“I should have warned you, I’m sorry.” Wraith hid her face. 

“What the fuck did they do? Christ Wraith…” She looked at the irritated skin around the discs, the horror of the modifications still seeping in. They _must_ have been drilled into the bone, her muscles altered by the connections and her body would have tried to reject the foreign metal. “I-I can’t believe they would do this to someone.” She fought the nagging retort in her head. This wasn’t far off base for the IMC. Simulacra, planet-killing weapons, live-fire testing against POWs. It wasn’t exactly an organization made of saints, but that always existed on the fringes, never right in front of her.

She helped Wraith out of her pants and boots. Her legs bore the same scars and disks as her arms. To her horror, Anita was struck by the realization that she was missing some toes and her stance was slightly duck-footed, one of her shins showed a bump where a fracture had rehealed with a new rotation. Anita was too afraid to ask if that was from the experiments or her survival. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Anita  ushered her into the shower. 

The moment the water hit her skin Wraith cried out in pain. Anita threw the handle off and comforted her. 

“It’s too hot, it burns...hot.” She repeated. The water was warm, but not scalding. Anita tried again, this time with the water so cold it felt like she was bathing in ice. That agreed with Wraith. 

With arduous care and always her express permission, Anita used a sponge to scrub Wraith clean. Dirt and grime turned the water brown and revealed just how pale she was. 

“I’ve got a sponge. I’m going to rub some soap on those discs, it should help with the oozing and any pain. But, it’s gonna hurt. Probably.” Anita needed to get her to Ajay as soon as possible, but she already knew getting Wraith to trust a medic, even one as easy to like as Ajay would be a challenge. 

The sponge barely touched her skin there, clearly, any contact was painful, but Wraith seemed relieved to at last clean the area. Though Anita was shivering, she pushed on.

The door quickly opened and closed, but Wraith’s eyes flashed glue and she defaulted to a defensive posture. Anita backed off to let her relax. She was getting twitchy. 

“Just...just Nat.” She said.

“Just Nat. I promise you Wraith, we will never do anything to hurt you.” Anita prayed that would be true. There were too many unknowns. It was walking into a minefield blind and ignorant. 

More than once Wraith lashed out at touch and even the small pop of the cap to a body wash made her whole body jerk. Water alternately froze or flashed to steam on her as pockets of Void energy surged in her fingertips. 

“Do you want your knobs back?” Anita hoped that Wraith was right about their capabilities. 

Wraith nodded and let Anita retrieve the case. While out of the shower, she saw that Natalie had thankfully retrieved very loose-fitting sweatpants and a t-shirt adorned with the image of a Nessie. Thoughtful as ever, she’d also brought Anita a change of clothes after she’d forgotten herself. 

Together, Wraith and Anita returned the knobs to their apparently interchangeable positions. With each one reinserted, Wraith seemed to relax, her movements became slower and smoother and her twitches reduced. That gave Anita the time and the cooperation she needed to finish helping Wraith wash up.

It took an hour to clean her hair. There was so much of it and it was positively disgusting. Clumps of it pulled out with cries from Wraith that were followed by the soothing sounds Anita’s mother had once made to her. They burned through a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and broke a comb, but after what was probably a dangerous amount of time in the frigid water, Wraith was clean. 

“Ready to get out?” She asked. 

Wraith was satisfied and took a towel from Anita. She seemed relatively normal until she picked up the clothes Natalie had given her. Her hands shook and she kept rubbing her thumbs over it, tears began to well in her eyes. 

“I-I can’t let her just give this to me. It’s too nice.” 

“Wraith, it’s a five credit shirt. Trust me, Nat won’t miss it.” She gave her a reassuring smile. 

“You two are...you’re both so nice to me. No one’s ever-” Her voice hitched in a sob. “This is the first thing anyone’s ever given me. Thank you.” She hugged Anita, staining her shirt with tears and sopping hair.

“Hey hey, it’s no problem Wraith. We’re here for you, we got you.” She returned the hug, for the first time feeling Wraith untense just the faintest amount. 

“Wraith you look so much better now that you’re clean! I hope the clothes fit, we are close enough to the same size I think.” Natalie didn’t even acknowledge the bits of metal sticking out of Wraith or the deformed skin on her arms as she exited the bathroom. Her unfailing kindness and ability to default into that kind of warmth was something Anita both admired and envied. 

“The clothes are perfect. Thank you, I’ve never felt so...free.” Wraith said. 

Natalie perked up and looked to Anita.

“You had a call from Crypto, he left you a message. Actually, he called several times. It seemed rather urgent.” She brought a hand to her mouth and looked at the floor, her mind clearly a little scattered at the moment. 

That was actually quite good news, Anita hoped. Crypto’s call, not the scatter. However, first, she had to tamp down on anything Natalie might do that might inadvertently make things worse. 

“Thanks, Nat, I’ll swing by, he owes me a phone repair. But a few ground rules, no food yet. Wraith’s body isn’t ready for what we eat yet, you’ll make her sick. And no experiments, we don’t know how anything works yet.” Anita said, trying to avoid her infamous condescending tone. 

Wraith looked from one woman to the other, fishing for something that she couldn’t quite put into words. Instead, she shuffled over towards Natalie and waved Anita goodbye before Natalie led her for a tour of her new home. Anita assured herself that neither would do something rash while she was gone. 

The message from T was short and vague. “ _ There’s something with your project. I’d rather speak in person. _ ” For a man who thrived on technology, he put a lot of stock in face to face interaction. There was an urgency in his voice that left a lead weight in Anita’s gut. Either there was a problem, or worse, he’d found something. 

There was a moment of hesitation at the door. Anita pondered reminding Natalie of the pistol in the nightstand, or that Bloth lived right next door. But what would that do other than set Natalie on edge? Not only could Natalie more than handle herself, but as Anita had to keep reminding herself, as weird and twitchy as Wraith was, she’d done nothing to present herself as a threat. After one final look back, she slipped out of the room. 

Her walk to T’s room was closer to a jog and thankfully uninterrupted. The whole time, she braced herself for whatever the news was, imagining progressively more nightmarish scenarios for what was on that drive, though she continued to remind herself that if there were a danger, T would have found a way to warn them. She hoped at least. 

“Hey, Crypto.” She rapped on the door and heard nothing from inside. “Come on, get up. You called me six times and now you won’t answer?” 

“Patient, as usual, sergeant.” Crypto huffed behind her. He was holding a basket of laundry that diverged wildly from his usual style. 

He brushed past her and cracked the door, but slipped inside and closed it before she could follow. There was rustling inside and what sounded like hushed voices, something about a key and coming back later. A lover? If she’d been expected, then why did he have company? The answer came in the form of a familiar face when the door opened again. 

“Elliot?” Anita wasn’t necessarily surprised that he got around, but he and Crypto just seemed like an odd match up to her. Then again, she and Nat were an on and off item and the two of them were something of an odd couple. 

“Good evening to you too. Cryppy and I were talking business, but I see you two have something clearly quite important, so I’ll be off then.” He feigned a disinterested tone but his face was marked with disappointment. 

“Whatever, I’ll let that business stay between you two.” Elliot hurried off and she focused her jokingly judgmental gaze on T. “Didn’t know you dated anything that wasn’t your drone.” 

“Very funny. You go into comedy and I’ll take up yoga instruction.” He shot back in his usual dry snark. 

The inside of his apartment was the same as ever, though smelling nicer than usual. He’d even cleaned up some of the clutter in the entrance area. But her eyes fixed on the BDM connected to his computer bank by a half dozen wires, the status light rhythmically blinking yellow. From her days in the IMC, she knew that meant a security error had occurred. 

“Where are we at?” She asked as soon as T closed the door. 

“Hit a new wrinkle. This isn’t a normal drive, the encryption is much stronger than what the IMC usually ran. And I only have two attempts before a complete wipe, so I have two options: make two uneducated guesses, or you give me six months to run a bit of code on it to trick it into opening for me.” He had his hands jammed into his pockets in defeat. 

“Six months? I thought you were the best.”

“I am!” He snapped. “And that’s why it’s going to take six months, not four years. I’d be happy to explain my process if you think you can keep up.”

Anita put her palms up, the man could talk her ear off and leave her wondering how much was just made up on the spot. If he said six months, it would be six months. 

“Just teasing you T. Keep me in the loop, yeah? And warn me next time Elliot is over, I’d rather not walk in on that.” She clapped his arm.

“I’d appreciate you keep that to yourself. There are people out there, looking for me. They’d hurt him if it means they could find me.” His voice lost its confidence for an instant, cracking a sliver of vulnerability. In all the matches she’d fought with and against him, he’d never been afraid, but whoever the ‘people’ were, they had him scared shitless. 

“I haven’t seen a thing, just Witt getting some tech work done.” She smiled at him and received another first, a faint, genuine smile on his face. Without the gloom, she could see what caught Witt’s eye, and if anyone could cheer a guy up, it was that goof. 

On the way back to her apartment, Anita checked her texts. A promise from Ajay to give Wraith a once over once she was ready for it, a slew of baffling ‘memes’ from Silva (who she still regretted giving her number), and a single one from Natalie.

_ We had a slight scissor mishap, but all is well :) _

And that was deeply concerning. Why she’d taken out a blade near Wraith was beyond her, and the ambiguity racked her mind as she ran for home. Only the fact that there’d been no follow up prevented Anita from kicking down the door. When she barged it, she was met with a shocking sight.

" _ Bonsoir _ , Anita! How was Crypto?” Natalie chimed.

She stood behind Wraith with a pair of scissors and her hands covered in cut hair. Wraith was sat down on a stool with a poncho over her shoulders and nearly all of her damaged hair cutaway and laying on a trashbag Natalie had thrown down. She was remarkably still, almost creepily so, but did not appear at all on edge. 

“Do you like it?” Natalie followed up, motioning for Wraith to look at Anita. 

“I didn’t know you did hair, Nat.” She hadn’t done that bad, cutting a rough bob out of Wraith’s mane that would suit her rather nicely with some touch-ups. “I would have voted to shave it and start over.”

“She suggested that. I...it's a personal thing. She’s doing very good for her first time.” Wraith said. “You’ve both been far too nice to me.” Her voice caught again, but Anita didn’t let her become overwhelmed, tapping her affectionately on the shoulder. 

“Hey, you deserve this much. But I wouldn’t call Nat going wild with some scissors ‘nice.’” Anita laughed and headed to the fridge to start with dinner. “What’s this about a scissor incident anyways?” 

There was some chicken that would work for the meal, along with white rice. A nice neutral selection to help reacclimate Wraith to normal food. 

“Oh, I nicked this port Wraith has on her neck and it caused her a great deal of pain. I felt so awful that I nearly called you to come home, but we made up.” Natalie confessed and ruffled Wraith’s newly cut hair to free the last of the snippings. “I’ll tell you the full story later.”

Anita let out a sigh of relief. No one was really hurt, and Natalie hadn’t found herself in a difficult place. As long as she could pull off dinner, day one could be called a rousing success. 

Against both Natalie and Anita’s offers, Wraith chose to sleep on the couch. They’d given her all the pillows and blankets she could ever need, water, a flashlight, everything short of a panic button to set her mind at ease. After profusely thanking them for dinner she readied for sleep. The knobs stayed in evidently and they found that Wraith preferred the stiff pillows. She curled into a tiny ball on the couch as Anita turned out the lights. 

In the bedroom with Natalie, she was ambushed under a deep, heavy kiss. It had been far too long since she felt Natalie plush lips on her own or her slender fingers weaving through her thick hair. She returned the passion, gripping Natalie’s hips and walking her back onto the bed. 

“What’s the occasion?” Technically, they weren’t dating right now, but that had never stopped either. Moments of passion flared and faded over the weeks and both had enough personal baggage to make the long term daunting. So casual hookups while living together became their norm. 

“It’s been a long time, and it makes me feel butterflies when you play the heroine.” Natalie whispered. “Thank you, Anita. For always standing with me, it means so much.” 

“I’ve got you, Nat. Now, if you can be quiet, I’d like to see where this goes.” Anita purred and pushed her hips between Natalie’s thighs. 

Just before their lips connected again, a horrid, shattering scream ripped through the still night air. Natalie and Anita locked eyes then bolted for the living room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and feedback are appreciated!


	4. Missing in Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Struck by night terrors, Wraith lashes out through the Void, injuring Anita in the process. Left with the guilt, she vanishes, kicking off a desperate search.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter if long-delayed chapter. Oh, the joys of continuing to work. I'm trying to explore Bangalore more in this fix than I originally planned since she frankly doesn't get enough attention in-game. So my usual mixture of headcanon and legitimate speculation.

That horrid scream continued as Anita vaulted over the bed and for the door. Instincts told her to go, training taught her how. She didn’t think on the cause of Wraith’s terror, just that it existed and that she had to act. In mere seconds she was in the living room. The fuzzy smell of ozone tingled at Anita’s nose, the hair on her arms stood on end. She looked over the scattered pillows and blankets to find Wraith. The couch lay abandoned but a faint glow in one corner caught her eye.

Wraith had made herself as small as possible, curling her limbs in on herself and huddling against the walls. Energy glowed in her eyes and sizzled around her limbs. Over the crackle of Void, all Anita could hear were her rasping breaths. Wraith had burned out her voice. Anita stepped closer but wraith tried to retreat further into the wall.

“Stay back! It’s not safe.” Her voice came out like dry sand. 

Anita took another slow step, showing wraith her palms to prove she had no ill intent. 

“It’s just me Wraith, it’s Anita. I’m not gonna hurt you.” She promised. Her heart thumped in her ears. 

“Please don’t come closer. I-I might hurt you.” Wraith rasped and held a hand up. 

But Anita continued to approach, sure that this was what she needed. Each step closer stilled Wraith, but the energy around her intensified. A bolt of it snapped to the drywall. That should have deterred Anita. Natalie finally stumbled into the room, just in time to see a vicious arc of energy jump to Anita’s arm. 

The woman fell to her knees, clutching her forearm. It was like white-hot steel had dripped onto her skin, searing through muscles and bone. A sharp jolt coursed up nerves, straight to her spine. She couldn’t even get out a sound. 

“No! No no, I’m sorry!” Wraith shouted, kicking her heels into the floor to try and separate herself. The look of horror on her face struck Anita like another bolt of Void energy. Natalie rushed over, crying out her name and before Anita could try and comfort Wraith she was gone in a burst of light. 

“Wraith! Come back!” Natalie called to no answer. “Oh no...what ‘appened Anita? D-do we need to see Ajay? What did you see?” Her questions came between tears. 

A strong hand wrapped around her arm and Anita pulled her close. Her eyes closed tight and took in a heavy breath. It was the same ritual as taking a bullet in a match. Breath in, hold hold, breath out. Just as then, the pain remained intense. The wound throbbed with searing heat, but Anita began to get her body back under her control. 

“I’ll be fine Nat. Call Ajay and Bloth over, ahh, they’ll help us. Wherever Wraith went, we can’t go after her.” Anita got to her feet, still hunched and clutching her arm. But for Natalie, she could be strong. “We’ll find her again. This wasn’t her fault.  _ Gah, that burns.  _ She knows it's not her fault.” She prayed that was true and that her overconfidence hadn’t ruined things again. 

Within minutes of the text, Ajay had arrived at the apartment with a full assortment of medical gear, and of course DOC in tow. Though not officially, the young woman was always on call, tending to the other Legends' medical woes at a moment's notice. How she managed that, training, her regular time in the clinic and Arena, and drum practice all while maintaining a demeanor that challenged only Natalie’s radiant enthusiasm was a mystery to Anita. She supposed medics were just built different.

She’d sat Anita down at the kitchen table and had her prop the affected limb on the table. The contents of Ajay’s medical bag were arrayed in an arc across the table’s surface while the woman herself practically crawled over it to get a good look. 

“So yuh got shocked by…” Ajay held the wounded forearm close to her face, manhandling it like she was examining a disembodied limb. 

“We are not sure what type of energy Ms. Wraith channels, but it is quite potent. I am...I am working on hypotheses.” Natalie sat on the couch playing with the hem of her shirt. 

Anita could see the cogs of that brilliant mind spinning, but not quite meshing. Frustration and a feeling of helplessness had clogged up the process. 

“It almost looks like electricity, but there’s this around it.” She poked her scalpel at some dark, loose skin around the scarred epicenter. “I’ve seen this a thousand times on the mountains, it's frostbite, but that doesn’t mesh with electricity. Good news is, I can patch yuh up, easy.” 

She began to lather the damaged skin in ointment before wrapping it in gauze, but Anita’s mind was on Natalie. It hadn’t been since the funeral that she’d been this fidgety. There was the same distant worry twisting across her face. Despite what every doctor had said, Natalie swore up and down that she could have done something to save her father. Maybe if she had noticed a sign of his illness or if she had some device that would have kept him alive until an ambulance could arrive then he would still be alive. In Natalie’s mind, she had failed him. 

As Ajay finished her work, Bloth arrived. They had a way of arriving at their leisure, but always right when they were needed most. To Anita’s surprise, they’d come only with a minimal mask. Ajay and Natalie had both seen their full face, Anita wasn’t that close to them yet. Even so, it was strange to see their pale and scarred skin rather than the glowing red eyes of their usual mask. It reminded Anita that they were just human after all, vulnerable and even fragile behind all their skill, almost like seeing an aging tiger. 

“I am to understand my skills are needed. I’m afraid I’m not sure how much I can assist, but on my honor, I will do all I can.” They spoke directly to Natalie. While Anita would call them a friend, they shared a special bond with Natalie, something unspoken and bound by more than blood. 

“Thank you Blóðhundr.” Her accent played with their name in a way that they always found endearing. “I’m sure that you’ll do great, you always come help for me, non, come through for me, yes that is it. Let us know if we can help you to...help us...ugh I am so mixed up.” Natalie sighed and hung her head low. 

Bloth paced over and tipped her chin up. They said something softly to her, something Anita didn’t hear. Whatever it was it gave her a renewed strength. Natalie solemnly nodded and rose, sniffling away the waiting tears. 

“I’m going with Blóðhundr, we’ll find Ms. Wraith, I’m sure of it. Can...can you talk to Crypto? He might be able to help us too.” 

“Sure thing. I’m sure he will, he’s got a good head on his shoulders and a good heart in his chest. We’ll find her Nat.” She gave her a fistbump, their version of shaking on it. That made it official; come hell or high water, Wraith was going to be back in this apartment. 

It took the promise of finagling some IMC encryption keys, but Crypto offered his services. Hack was circling the area scanning for any abnormal energy readings. That wasn’t a great criterion, but between his intelligence and some luck that Anita was owed, she had high hopes. He’d also offered to redouble his efforts on the BDM with the hope that there was some tiny crumb in there that could make finding her a simple task.

Anita scrolled through old military emails and files she still had ( _ technically illegally _ ) on her phone. With the IMC all but gone, she ironically now had one of the largest active databases left with her few hundred files. Every search for ‘Wraith’ or ‘Void’ or ‘Fold’ came up empty, but she swore she’d heard something about, well, something. While completely engrossed in her search, Anita never noticed the person rounding the corner. They collided, sending the other to the floor and Anita stumbling back. 

“Ow, my world-famous ass!” It was Elliot, probably looking at his own phone. Anita grabbed his hand and pulled him back to his feet. “If it isn’t the woman I was looking for, I’m here to help.” She arched a brow. 

The brand of “help” that Elliot often offered consisted of him tagging along and using far too many words for Anita’s tastes. Like so many of the people here, they were acquaintances at best. There was no strong sense of the other in either direction. Sure she frequented his bar for discounted drinks and he came to her for firearm advice on occasion, but for the most part, she was too straightlaced for him and he too social for her. 

“Thanks Witt, but I’m not sure what you can do for us. Crypto and Bloth are already on it.” She shrugged, trying to let him off easy.

“But they don’t have the social media prowl-pro-prawn...skills as yours truly. Observe.” He showed her the blindingly bright screen of his phone. Once her eyes squinted enough, she could make out a post he’d made on his massively popular page.

_ Hey friends and fiends, we have a serious post tonight. Our new friend Wraith is missing and I need my eyes and ears in Solace City looking for her. Here’s what to look for: _

_ Height: short _

_ Weight: skinny _

_ Eyes: ...weird... _

_ Skin: super pale _

_ Hair: black or maybe she’s blad now??? _

_ Responds to: Wraith I think _

_ Special notes: kinda creepy looking, super twitchy. She can turn invisible. Think vengeful spirit. If found, DM me _

Anita rolled her eyes at his lack of seriousness, but with the number of followers he had, there was a decent chance one of them would see something. Part of her worried that Bateman might use this as an excuse to snatch her up and leave everyone searching forever, or some even more unsettling third party would set their sights on her. 

“That’s...real nice of you Witt, thanks. I’m guessing Nat told you?” Anita said. 

“Yeah, she texted everyone. I mean everyone like Revenant got the message. I’m just doing what I can to help a new friend. My bamboozles are out there too. I have them holding a sign that says ‘if you’re Wraith, punch me’. That should work, right?” His sincere obliviousness worked its charms even on her. He reminded her of her brothers in some ways, and in others, of the little brother she always wanted. 

“Thanks Witt, I owe you one. Let me know if your little plan works.” Though she had her doubts, he’d surprised her before. 

While Bloth continued to prowl the grounds, Natalie had taken off on her own. Hours into her search and there was nothing to go on. Her skull was tight with worry and lack of sleep, every slight sound was like another twist of the ratchet. Her hands writhed over each other and she stumbled along, too distracted and overwhelmed to walk straight. She needed a place to settle herself and to refocus. There was one place she knew well. 

As she made her way to her little sanctuary, the stark steel walls of the facility seemed to grow tighter and the draft hallways took on an unnatural chill. Her steps felt off, like each was too soon after the last or maybe her knee hadn’t bent quite enough. Natalie was sure she was garnering strange looks from others. She retreated into her hood, pulling it tight down on her head, but even that couldn't help her. 

Her shoulder braced against the heavy door to the generator room. It was a surprisingly quiet place, all the turbines steadily whined along under geothermal power, cocooned in their reinforced casings. The ceiling was a maze of wire and pipe that jumped from turbine to turbine to massive banks of monitoring equipment. This was old tech, but tech she understood well. No other sounds polluted the soothing hum of machines, no loud clangs or shouts that would set Natalie on edge. But among the familiar, she heard something unexpected as she shuffled between turbines, it sounded like sobs. 

Natalie tried not to let herself hope as she continued to weave between the machinery. The sobs grew clearer and a new sound hit her ears, buzzing electricity. A bolt of purplish energy arced from behind a large transformer. It had to be Wraith. 

“Get back!” She shouted at Natalie just as her face came into view. 

Natalie's hands shot to her ears and she stumbled backwards, landing hard on the unforgiving concrete. When she forced her eyes open, she almost wished she’d kept them shut. 

Wraith looked terrible, her eyes bloodshot and puffy, but wide with fear. Her pale face shone with sweat and her now short hair was matted down. Blood dripped from her nose. 

“Wraith, I’m not going to hurt you. We...we want to help you.” Natalie whispered.

“But I’ll hurt you! I already hurt Anita…” Her voice faded as guilt sunk its talons into her gut. “All you ever were was nice to me, and I hurt her. I’m too dangerous Natalie, I need to be put somewhere safe.” Wraith retreated into the dark space behind the machinery, her body still illuminated by arcing energy and her glowing eyes. 

Though she didn’t say it outright, Natalie knew she meant going back to Bateman. The thought forced tears to Natalie's eyes. Wraith would rather subject herself to hell than hurt her. Maybe if she stuck around, Natalie and Anita would get hurt, but that was their job, and no matter what they’d always bounced back. 

“Anita is fine Wraith, Ajay already patched her up!” Natalie chimed and forced a smile. “It was an accident, these sort of things happen, especially when there is something new. She’s not angry with you, Wraith. We were worried when you disappeared, everyone is helping us look for you.” Natalie inched closer to Wraith, but the still terrified woman held up her hand and tucked her face away. Natalie learned from Anita’s mistake and stayed back.

She made the decision not to move. Instead, she sat there with her knees in her chest, patiently waiting for Wraith to get to a better place. For now she wouldn’t call Anita or anyone, Wraith had to trust her and take things slow. But her demeanor didn’t change as the minutes stretched on. Wraith remained in her trembling, Void infused state tucked behind that transformer. Fear crept into Natalie’s mind that perhaps she was the problem. Her own nervous energy was surely setting Wraith’s nerves high, tipping the other woman off that she was in fact afraid of her. Worse still, the voices she heard would let her know as much. 

More than once, Wraith tried to disappear again yet something held her back. She’d surge with energy and for a moment, she would vanish. But an instant later, she’d burst back into existence, panting. By how her shirt was soaked with sweat and tears. The whole time, Natalie said nothing, instead passively observing her. 

“Why won’t you let me leave!” Wraith screamed at no one. Her head slowly turned towards Natalie. “I need this to stop. Can you make it stop?” Her nails dug into her scalp, much harder and she’d start to tear skin. 

Natalie swallowed hard. Leaving Ajay and Anita out of this had been a mistake. She felt frozen with indecision, but each ticking second only made Wraith worse. Somewhere inside herself she found the courage to try. 

“Wraith, I don’t know if I can help you. But that means there is a chance that I can, no? So why don’t we try? together?” Natalie extended her palm. To her horror, Wraith shook her head and vanished in a burst of sparks. 

Without the sobs, the room felt empty, like the walls extended a thousand miles in every direction. Shock pinned Natalie in place and stopped the emotions from processing, but soon the sound of sobs returned to the turbine room, this time Natalie’s own. She curled up onto the floor. Once again, she’d failed. 

“Come on Nat, answer your phone.” Anita growled. Behind her, Crypto was struggling to keep pace with her long strides. His attention was split between his screen and the floor in front of him.

A few minutes ago, Hack had detected an unidentified energy surge in the turbine room. And now, the drone was picking up a heat signature inside. He hadn't directed his drone inside for fear of starling Wraith. His attempts to connect to Natalie’s phone had been unsuccessful so far. 

Anita’s heart was pounding as she came to the door, more ready to kick it down than try and talk, but she kept her cool. She tapped her knuckle against the cold steel. 

“Hey, Wraith. It’s Anita. I’m alright, and, well, Nat and I are worried about you. Can I come in? I just want to talk.” She’d made a point to come unarmed in case the voices gave her the wrong idea. 

To her surprise, the door opened almost immediately, and then came the second shock. The short woman on the other side was Natalie. Her eyes were swollen and her nose ran, she was barely keeping herself together. 

“I tried Anita.” She whimpered and fell into her arms. 

Anita held her close and cupped the back of her head. A glance was all it took to tell Crypto that she needed some space. He nodded and trudged off. More sobs shook Anita’s chest. 

“Hey, hey Nat. I’m here. The important thing is you’re okay.” Anita tried to assure.

“I found Wraith. She was so scared, it was like we were in the lab again.” Natalie whimpered. The revelation jolted Anita’s gut. She opened her mouth to snap at her for not calling for help, but shut it. She wouldn’t be her father today. “I tried to help her, but she didn’t want it. She went away again Anita, I don’t know where.” 

There was nothing Anita could do but hold her, give her the tenderness she had needed in her own moments of failure. 

“It’s okay Natalie. You did the right thing. You did everything you could. Let’s get you home. We’ve had a long day.” Natalie fidgeted, readying to retort but Anita was a step ahead. “We won’t do Wraith any good if we’re exhausted. I’ll talk to some people tomorrow. How about I make you some soup at least? That sound good?” Natalie nodded against Anita’s chest. 

Anita was not looking forward to another conversation with Blisk, especially with this news. She looked up to the sky, begging Jackie for any kind of inspiration, unaware that this time, she was about to get far more than she hoped for. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it cliche to set up a military father as a strict disciplinarian? Yeah probably. Do I intend to subvert that? Who's to say really. 
> 
> As always, kudos and feedback are appreciated.


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